PARIS, April 3 \u2014 Iran should make a deal with the United States to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief, a former Iranian foreign minister said.<\/p>\n
Mohammad Javad Zarif, who served as foreign minister from 2013-2021, claimed in an op-ed for American journal Foreign Affairs that Tehran had the \u201cupper hand\u201d in the conflict against the US and Israel, but argued Iran needed to stop the war to prevent the loss of more civilian lives and damage to infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIran should use its upper hand not to keep fighting but to declare victory and make a deal that both ends this conflict and prevents the next one,\u201d Zarif said in the piece published late yesterday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should offer to place limits on its nuclear program and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to all sanctions\u2014a deal Washington wouldn\u2019t take before but might accept now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Iran should also be prepared to accept a mutual \u201cnonaggression pact\u201d with the United States, as well as economic relations, he said. Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.<\/p>\n
Zarif, one of the architects of the now moribund 2015 deal over the Iranian nuclear programme, is seen as a relative moderate within the Islamic Republic elite, but has no official post in the current government.<\/p>\n
However, this is one of the first times during this conflict that a high-profile figure in Iran has called for a deal and an end to the war, with top military and political officials urging daily for fighting to continue until the US is defeated.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump has evoked ongoing talks with Tehran without giving details, but also threatened to send the country \u201cback to the Stone Age\u201d if it fails to agree on terms.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an Iranian, outraged by Donald Trump\u2019s reckless aggression and crude insults, yet proud of our armed forces and resilient people, I am torn about publishing this peace plan in Foreign Affairs,\u201d Zarif wrote in English on X Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet I\u2019m convinced that war must end on terms consistent with Iran\u2019s national interests,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Zarif in the Foreign Affairs piece warned that \u201calthough continuing to fight the United States and Israel might be psychologically satisfying, it will lead only to the further destruction of civilian lives and infrastructure\u201d. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n
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